Get the Skinny! This is just part of the article. Want the complete story, plus a host of other cutting-edge articles to make your job easier? Sign up!

Laws and regulations provide guidance and shape many aspects of the professional skin care industry. Federal laws, and the regulations put into place to enforce them, dictate how skin care products are made, advertised, used and sold. Professional regulation, and what it entails from state to state, has also become a significant part of the professional skin care industry as a whole. (See The History of Professional Regulation of Estheticians.)

To truly understand the evolution of skin care ingredient regulations in the United States, let’s rewind to 1938, when Congress gave the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority to oversee food, drug, and cosmetic safety. It’s also important to examine two laws and regulations that have played crucial roles in the beauty industry: the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) of 1938, which established definitions of “drugs” versus “cosmetics”; and the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (FPLA) of 1966, which prohibited marketing of misbranded and/or adulterated products. Also important, the Wheeler-Lea Act (or Advertising Act), passed in 1938, provided the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) authority to regulate advertising on food, drug, cosmetics and medical devices.

Consumer confidence is jeopardized when false claims are advertised on products. However, clients can be reassured that licensed skin care professionals take great care when selecting which products they will use and sell. Skin care professionals have become increasingly savvy and selective when it comes to the purchase and use of products. According to recent data from the International Spa Association (ISPA), spa revenue reached $13.2 billion by year end in 2011, indicating that the number of skin care products and skin care services continues to grow.

The consumer in mind

Want the rest of the story? Simply sign up. It’s easy. Plus, it only takes 1 minute and it’s free!

The History of Professional Regulation of Estheticians

The skin care profession has a long history of regulation outside of the United States. In Europe, estheticians are called “beauty therapists” and can achieve an ITEC or CIDESCO certification when they complete their initial program. In the United States, estheticians—often called facialists—were not regulated until 20 years ago when six states offered a separate license for estheticians. In 1978, California started to license esthetics as a separate profession with a 600-hour curriculum; before this, an esthetician could receive additional training through a basic cosmetology program. In some states, no training at all was required and anyone could open a skin care studio or spa. One state, Connecticut, still does not have a separate license for estheticians.

In the late 1990s, the medical spa boom started. Lasers for hair removal and skin resurfacing, as well as Botox, began to be widely used. Physicians saw an additional cash revenue source and began to expand their practices. Having estheticians work for them prompted a closer look at the profession as a whole. In 1999, after much controversy, Utah was the first state to offer a two-tier licensing model with 1,200 required hours as the standard. These licensing requirements mimic the CIDESCO certification, without the full body massage component that is a worldwide standard.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, an innovation in cosmetic chemistry also happened, along with members of the baby boomer generation beginning to age. The introduction of glycolic acid and retinol as miracle ingredients ushered in a new group of products called “cosmeceuticals,” coined by Albert M. Kligman, MD, and not recognized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This group of cosmetics were considered to be more powerful and to create better results. Superficial chemical peeling became a new modality that could be accessed by estheticians with minimal standards or training. This new modality offered side effects, which translated to a public safety concern to be addressed by each state’s cosmetology board.

School curriculum has not kept up with much of the technology today’s estheticians are using. Although advanced esthetics textbooks exist, state board testing still does not reflect the advanced knowledge needed. This has created a perfect storm for state boards with the medical profession wanting a reduced scope of practice, technology advancing faster than regulation can happen and some schools not advancing their curriculum in order to just teach to pass the state board test.

This evolution of the skin care profession has created a situation that has made challenges to the existing scope of practice inevitable. The medical profession has an economic interest and state boards have a public safety concern.

It is crucial that skin care professionals get involved with their state boards in order to represent the best interests of your profession. Take the extra step to make sure you know what issues are going on in your state. Log on to www.SkinInc.com/education/statelicensing for complete contact information for your state’s board, and start becoming active and making a difference in your state today.

Skip

Welcome to the new SkinInc.com!

Delivering the best information on the spa, skin care and wellness industry is our passion, and we’ve worked hard to design a powerful new website that incorporates cutting-edge technology to bring you: